hohoho. craig: well, geoff, it is only a week left until christmas. what do you have in mind? geoff: i think we hate some canadian hating gluten lovers out to dinner. >> we're going to get them glutened up. i don't know what gluten is. what is it? geoff: i have no idea. i think they make that crap up, man. craig: cbs cares. good night, everybody. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--

>> believes this was a credible threat, potentially dangerous situation. >> a local school on pins and needles today after a student's plan to carry out a mass attack was stopped. police in laurel say that

threat was credible and serious. >> our ken molestina has been following the details live at laurel high school with what authorities are saying about all this. ken? >> reporter: here's what they're saying. of course, this does involve a teen student here at laurel high school. he's a teen, a juvenile, so police are not releasing much information by way of his identity. they're doing a good job of keeping tight-lipped about that. however, here's what they do say. they say the allegations we're talking about are very real. students and the parents and staff here are breathing a sigh of relief after authorities believe could have been a tragic event at the school. >> wanted to harm people, possibly shoot and do some other harm to folks. there were some lists, diagrams, charts, things like that. so that really gave some credibility to the seriousness of this situation. >> reporter: city of laurel spokesman says the unidentified student was located by police on monday. he wasn't at school but shortly after police caught up with him, he was taken to a local

hospital for psychiatric evaluations. as of late tuesday he was still in the custody of that hospital. he called this a classic case of see something, say something. >> it started with the students' observations and willing to come forward and tell a teacher, security got involved. we believe that that action prevented a pretty serious situation. >> reporter: authorities don't believe the alleged plan was inspired by the events in newtown, connecticut. they think this was already in the works before the massacre of 26 people at sandy hook elementary. however, the uneasy tensions that many are feeling as a result of sandy hook may have contributed to the authorities being tipped off by the students. >> it may have helped, because there is a heightened awareness and sensitivity to it. >> reporter: back out live here, authorities say they have been in communication with this teen's parents. those parents, according to authorities, said that they did believe that their son actually had access to some weapons

therefore making this threat that much more credible, guys. but no weapons, according to police, ever made it here on campus. so that's certainly some good news here. what is still a mystery tonight is what could have caused this teen to plan out such an attack. we'll find out in the days to come. ken molestina, 9 news. now to the latest on the tragedy in newtown. today, the town buried two more little children. the first funeral was for 6 year-old james who was remembered for his love of sports and math. jessica loved horses and has been hoping for cowgirl boots and a hat for christmas. third grader luke santana survived the attack. his father was among the first on that terrible scene. >> he grabbed me, actually. and i said, oh, i said, oh, you're finally here. what took you so long? >> five more funerals will be

held tomorrow. among those being remembered, first grade teacher, victoria soto. she died trying to protect her students from the gunman. as soon as we learn the magnitude of the sandy hook school massacre, we sent members of our team to cover this event for our viewers firsthand. >> debraal fear ron and the crew are -- debra alfarone and the crew are back in town. this may be one of the worst ones ever. >> this is one of the toughest i've covered by far. i've covered murders and devastation, like super storm sandy, the aftermath of 9/11, but i can honestly say nothing prepares you to report on 20 little 6 and 7-year-old angels gunned down point blank. here is what the team remembers most specifically. [ bells ringing ] >> how somebody could go and be

so horrific and kill little kids. they had nothing to dwith it. >> reporter: inconsolable. >> oh, my gosh. it can't be possible. >> reporter: struggling for air. >> i look up and i said, you know, if anything has to happen, protect the kids. >> reporter: forever scarred, the epicenter for sorrow is newtown, connecticut. >> in the wrong place at the wrong time. >> then i just said go, go. i didn't want to be -- i didn't want to be another one of thosegrieving moms. >> reporter: the littlest victims slaughtered in the most unimagineably way. it's not about the shooter but how newtown remembers. there aren't enough cameras to

capture the grief. memorials seemed to sprout everywhere you look. our wusa 9 team snapped these on the ground. >> teddy bears for each of the children that was killed. it's hard. the hardest part for me was seeing other people sad. >> gave a good long hug with my kids. i think the thing that really, really i remember the most was probably because i had to be in the thick of it, was just the mass media presence. >> seeing the birth dates of all the victims. people were born in '06 should not die. >> reporter: these pictures, these memories will never leave. we met so many in their saddest hour. >> i was there that morning. my staff and i left 5 minutes before this occurred. and we all wish we could have been there, so we could have done something. >> grace and dillon and the rest of them will watch over

all of us. >> to come across that absolutely horrific scene, it had to be devastating. >> reporter: after the live trucks, after the funerals, after the holidays, we will never forget the huge hearts we met and the simple town that became ground zero. >> i can't believe we're the center of media attention worldwide, the second worst massacre in u.s. history in our town. it just doesn't compute. ♪ ♪ >> our team also included satellite operator curt brooks, but breaking news came earlier and he had to go. his main concern in newtown was being respectful to a town dealing with so much. i think it's that kind of thoughtfulness that really helped us, too. kind of maintain our sense of being a team and also just to deal with this situation, we wanted to be very thoughtful to everyone there. tough. >> do you think the town appreciated that or were they

just overwhelmed by so many media people there. >> i've never seen so many media people there. absolutely everyone was there, all the networks, all the local calls, people from out of town. good thing is i did work in connecticut. >> you had worked there, so this was something you were very familiar with, a place. >> a place i've reported before and people knew that in the area. i mentioned it, if they kind of seemed uncertain. >> i told them i grieve with them. we all do. the whole nation does. >> yes, we do. thank you. one group who has been notably silent through all this, the national rifle association. they broke that silence earlier today saying it is, quote, prepared to offer meaningful contributions to make sure this never happens again. they will hold a major news conference on this in washington to further explain that condition. during the self-imposed blackout the nra took down its facebook page. tonight it's back up again and folks on both sides of the gun control issue are sounding off

and weighing in. one person writes i upped to a life membership because i trust the nra to protect americans and their right to keep and bear arms. i hope i don't have to cut up and send my membership card in on friday. another one says you really need assault rifles to defend your home in case someone breaks in. the very guns soldiers carry into war? there should be more restrictions on the sale of assault rifles. a cbs poll shows 57% of americans now support stricter gun control laws and that's the highest it's been in a decade. those in favor of gun control have their work cut out for them. the nra's lobbying budget, 66% greater than the brady foundation, the leading gun control organization. if you're a gun control advocate, you also have to deal with this number. an estimated 3 million americans that already own a rifle called the ar-15. that's the weapon used by the shooter in newtown and it is

the most popular rifle in the country. why are these assault-style rifles so popular? we spoke with the owner of blue ridge arsenal in chantilly. >> people shoot assault rifles for sport, basically. target practice, he shoot paper, most -- they shoot paper, most of the people that come in here. it's app fun gun to shoot. it's easy. >> it has been used in other mass shootings in this country, not just newtown. it's also the weapon of choice in many violent movies and video games. new at 11:00, information about the september 11 attack in benghazi. an independent council finds there was no protest and blames the entire incident on terrorists. the report says systematic management failures at the state department led to inadequate security. despite all that, the panel says no one violated their duties. the report makes 29 recommendations to improve embassy security. secretary of state hillary clinton says she accepts them

all. we have no good news to report for you tonight on the fiscal cliff negotiations designed to stop big tax increases and spending cuts at the end of the year. only 13 days left to find a deal. the president and the speaker of the house say they're still trying. the speaker introduced what is now being widely called plan b. it stops income tax increases for all taxpayers except those making $1 million a year but does not address spending cuts. in the senate the majority leader says that plan will never pass. gary nurenberg is here with details. >> reporter: you hit the highlights. the president and speaker of the house continue to say they want a big deal that makes a real long-term dent in the deficit and keeps everyone's income taxes from going up in two weeks but they don't have a deal yet and it does not appear tonight that they're close. so speaker of the house john boehner is proposing a fall back plan, plan b, that kills most of the scheduled tax

increases. >> our plan b would protect american taxpayers who make a million dollars or less. and have all of their current rates extended. >> reporter: president obama had campaigned on a plan to raise the taxes of those making more than $250,000 or more. but he's offered republicans a scaled-back proposal, limiting tax increases only to those making $400,000 or more. >> the president has already moved exactly halfway on revenue. and more than halfway on spending cuts. so that is by definition what compromise is about. >> reporter: boehner says not good enough. >> we do not have a balanced plan when the president's calling for $1.3 trillion in revenue and only willing to put $850 billion worth of cuts over ten years. >> reporter: boehner's fall back doesn't address spending cuts at all, only taxes. immediate reaction from the senate majority leader? >> everyone should understand, boehner's proposal will not pass the senate. >> reporter: expect some votes

on what are essentially competing plan b's later in the week, symbolic, not much chance of passing both chambers in a divided congress but giving both said a chance to say we voted to keep your taxes down. don't blame us. the big bargain talks are still on, kind of like the philosophy in buying the power ball ticket. could happen. anita. >> let's hope it goes. gary, thank you. we made it easy for you to track the latest developments on the fiscal cliff. head to our website, wusa9.com and click on fiscal cliff at the top. coming up, the suspect known as the butt slasher. his back side's now right back here in the usa and he'll be facing charges here in our area. still ahead on 9, plenty of toys ready to be donated to plenty of kids. but this story needs a middle man. could it be you ready to play santa? topper. 62 was the high. another day in paradise in december. let's start with your wakeup weather. grab a light jacket.

mid-40s to mid-50s at 5:00. generally in the 40s by 9:00. we'll come back and talk about whether or not the winds are going to be a factor tomorrow afternoon. look ahead to another storm we're tracking a

>> new at 11:00, he's accused of attacking ten women in shopping centers around fairfax county. tonight the man accused of being the so-called but slasher has been extradited back. he was arrested by authorities in peru in january. since that time u.s. marshals have been fighting to get him back to virginia. investigators say he terrorized the community back in 2011, slighting the buttocks of female victims who were all between the ages of 15 and 20. in the day since the massacre in newtown, all have been struggling to make sense of what happened and to answer

the question how do we keep it from happening again. tonight derek says a shortage of potential answers is the least of our problems. >> yeah, the good news is that americans are so heartbroken and angry over the newtown massacre, president obama seemed to speak for all of us when he said surely we can do better than this. we'll have to change, he said. but i think what he really meant was we're no longer afraid of change, because let's be real. as the president pointed out, we've been through this thing before, several times. but nobody did much about it, because still keeping it real here, the president, lawmakers and a whole lot of commentators, maybe this one included, we were intimidated by the gun lobby. nobody wanted to get them upset. and that's why i'm hoping the president was just as serious and fearless when he said he plans to talk to everybody from law enforcement to mental health professionals to parents themselves and find some real answers to all this. because we know from experience real answers, they're often really uncomfortable politically, and they can be

expensive to boot. so let's be real. you want change? you want meaningful action? you want continued courage? you better stay so angry, so heartbroken, that the president and everyone else stays fearless, too. anita. >> thank you, derek. all right, take a look at this. hundreds of stuffed animals, games, books, all ready to bedonated to kids who would love to see something under the christmas tree. but there's a problem, how to get all this stuff to kids in need. a lady in rockville collected these toys. she needs a responsible organization to come and take them away. if you are that charity send an e-mail to jacko 251@-- >> good stuff there, too. let's take a live look outside. it's our michael & son live weather cam. a very nice evening, still not that cold. breezy. 46, clear skies. dew points in the upper 20s, a little cooler and drier air

mass. winds calming down a little bit for now. the pressure 29.83 and still rising. grab your sunglasses for tomorrow. in fact, i think tomorrow will be the best of the week. a light jacket should be all you need. kids also at the bus stop, at least something in the morning. it will be breezy but still mild and not as windy tomorrow as it was today. we had gusts over 30 miles per hour at national. you will need to locate your umbrella on thursday. thursday a much stronger storm comes our way. it will give us more rainfall thursday night and will also usher in much colder air behind the cold front. we haven't had that so far in december. running about 8 degrees above average in december. overnight clear to partly cloudy, breezy, colder. lows 34 to 42. winds westerly 10 to 20. by morning, mostly sunny, breezy and chilly. you need a light jacket, 30s and 40s. winds turn a little bit west/southwest 10-15. by afternoon another great day. not quite as warm as today. mostly sunny, breezy and

pleasant. more like november. highs near 55. winds west/northwest at 10-15. so essentially we're looking at sunshine from the mountains to the coast on wednesday. remember, all our six zones are available on our website, wusa9.com. 32 in oakland tomorrow but 42 in cumberland. upper 40s in hagerstown, winchester 50. culpeper mid-50s easily. 53 warrenton, manassas, leesburg. maybe 54 in fairfax. downtown 54. mid-50s into southern maryland through waldorf, st. mary's city over to annapolis. small craft advisories expire in the morning but boaters need to be aware of a pretty big chop on the bay throughout the day on wednesday. 54 gaithersburg. rockville 53, over in frederick. green weather alert for tomorrow, breezy and mild, 54. yellow on thursday. we've got rain coming in probably just in time for the evening commute. highs only around 50. yes, your eyes do not deceive

you. that is a thunderstorm. we could have a thunderstorm thursday night. early flurries on friday back to green, windy and colder. highs only in the mid-40s. next seven days, mid-40s on saturday. the sounds kind of cold but really this is within two degrees of average. we've been so crazy warm this month. on sunday for the ravens, they're home. upper 40s. we're looking at sunshine up in philly in the mid-40s bright, but brisk. quie

the washington wizards have been decimated by injuries this season. first walls and price, ariza and booker. despite that as well as having the worst record in the nba, the wizards still appear to go out and give it their all on the court. tonight hosting the atlanta hawks they did just that. a zairey moment -- scary moment

early on. gets hard but would return thankfully but he said his back is extremely sore but no concussion. that's good news. he had 17. a huge night for jordan crawford. a triple double helps keep the wizards in the game. this one went to overtime. here's where the hawks pulled away. former wizard stephenson with the hawks win this in o.t. 100-95. >> hey, listen. i look up every morning to make sure the sky's up there. it's not fallen in on me. trust me. this has not been fun. we're going to continue to fight. >> when the season seemed all but over at the biweek, running back said the team came together and said we are not losing anymore. well, they haven't yet. they've won five straight since and are this close to the playoffs. they sit atop the nfc east and the redskins could clench a spot with a win over philadelphia this sunday.

but they need help. they need the giants, bears and vikings to lose. it's a lot, but it's possible. if this happens, the skins could be playing for the nfc east title against dallas to close out the season. several redskins played santa claus today at fedex field. they handed out over 1,000 toys to very deserving kids, helping spread the holiday cheer. >> i had many individuals step up and provide for me that didn't have to. i never had this platform and the celebrity of the redskins, it's great to come out and do the same for young people, too. >> christmas came early for the washington mystics. they announced their new hoed coach and general -- new head coach and general manager. he spent ten successful years with the connecticut sun and is a two-time coach of the year. he comes in with a lot of optimism and says it's not time to give up on this franchise just yet. >> off the fans that jumped off

the bandwagon, it's big enough to get back on. we'll take all comers to get back on. we have a lot to prove and we know that. >> finally tonight, we need your help in picking the best sports moments of 2012. you can go to wusa9.com. today we've got several baseball moments for you to choose from, including if you remember this. jayson werth walk off homer to keep the nats in the playoffs. go to wusa9.com to vote. we've got it on the sports page, as well as the home page and we'll start the could you please down tomorrow night. >> man, do you go there or rg3's 76-yard run against the